Christmas Sugar Cookie Bars Recipe

Christmas sugar cookie bars are thick, soft sugar cookie bars baked in one 9×13 pan, with a cream cheese filling swirled with red and green fruit gel in the middle and vanilla buttercream and sprinkles on top. They bake at 350°F for 28 to 32 minutes, take about 1 hour 40 minutes with cooling and chilling, and cut into 24 bars.

There is no rolling, no cutters and no chilled dough. Press half the dough into the pan, spoon on the filling, crumble the rest over the top, and take the pan out while the center still looks a little soft. That soft center is what keeps them chewy instead of cakey.

One 9×13 Pan, 24 Holiday Bars

• Yield: 24 bars, cut 4 rows by 6 (about 2 inches each)
• Time: 25 minutes prep, 28 to 32 minutes baking, 45 minutes cooling and chilling, about 1 hour 40 minutes total
• Oven and pan: 350°F (175°C), 9×13 inch pan lined with parchment
• Dough: 1 cup (226 g) butter, 1½ cups (300 g) sugar, 2 large eggs, 2¾ cups (345 g) flour, vanilla and optional almond extract
• Filling: ¾ cup (170 g) cream cheese, ½ cup powdered sugar, 2 tbsp each red and green fruit gel
• Frosting: ¾ cup (170 g) butter, 2½ cups (300 g) powdered sugar, 2 tbsp heavy cream or milk
• Keeps: up to 5 days in the fridge

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A Sugar Cookie Dough Made for Bars

Cream the soft butter and sugar for 2 to 3 minutes, until the mixture turns paler and fluffy. The butter should take a fingertip dent easily but not look greasy or shiny. Cold butter will not cream, and melted butter gives flat, oily bars.

Beat in the two eggs one at a time, then the vanilla and the almond extract if you use it. Two eggs are the right amount for this much flour: with one the bars turn dry and crumbly, and with three they puff up like cake. Almond is optional, but that ½ teaspoon is what makes the bars taste like a bakery sugar cookie.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt separately, add them to the butter and stir only until no dry streaks are left. All-purpose flour keeps the bars sturdy enough to hold a filling; cake flour makes them soft and sponge-like. Spoon the flour into the cup and level it, or weigh it. Packed, scooped flour is the most common reason for dry bars.

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Cream Cheese Filling With a Red and Green Swirl

Beat the softened cream cheese until smooth, then add the powdered sugar and vanilla and beat until blended. It is lightly sweet, so it tastes a little tangy against the buttery cookie. Drop small spoonfuls of the red and green fruit gel over the top and drag a knife through it two or three times. Stop while you can still see clear streaks of color; one more pass and it turns pink and muddy.

Cherry or raspberry works for the red, lime or apple for the green. Thick dessert gel keeps sharp streaks. Jam works too, but a thin jam bleeds into the dough, so pick a thick, seedless one. For a fudge version of the same flavor, see my sugar cookie fudge.

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Layering the Bars Without Tearing the Base

The dough weighs just under 1 kg, so the easiest way to halve it is on a scale: about 490 g for the base. Press it into the lined pan with lightly floured fingertips, or lay a sheet of parchment on top and press through it. It is a soft, sticky dough, and that is fine.

Spoon the filling over the base and spread it gently with an offset spatula, leaving about a half inch of bare dough around the edges. That border keeps the filling off the hot pan, where it would scorch and stick. Pinch the rest of the dough into small pieces and scatter them over the top, pressing lightly. Gaps are fine; the filling peeking through shows off the red and green.

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When to Take Sugar Cookie Bars Out of the Oven

Bake at 350°F for 28 to 32 minutes. The top should be lightly golden, the edges set and just pulling from the sides of the pan. A toothpick pushed in about 1 inch from the edge should come out with moist crumbs. The center will still look slightly soft but should not have a wet shine. It firms up as it cools.

Waiting until the middle looks fully baked is how these turn dry and cakey. A glass pan heats more slowly, so it may need a few extra minutes; a dark metal pan browns the edges faster. Let the bars cool completely in the pan on a wire rack before you frost them. On warm bars the buttercream melts and slides.

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Vanilla Buttercream and Sprinkles on Top

Beat ¾ cup soft butter until smooth, then add 2½ cups powdered sugar on low speed so it does not fly out of the bowl. Add the heavy cream (or milk), vanilla and a pinch of salt, turn the mixer up and beat for 2 to 3 minutes until light and spreadable. It is my vanilla buttercream frosting, scaled for one pan.

Spread it over the cooled slab in long strokes with an offset spatula, and add the sprinkles right away, before the surface crusts, so they stick. Chill the pan for at least 30 minutes to set the frosting before cutting.

Buttercream or Cream Cheese Frosting on These Bars?

Cream cheese frosting tastes tangier but stays soft, so it smears when you slice and needs to stay cold. Buttercream sets firmer in the fridge, which matters if you are stacking the bars in a tin or carrying them to a party. There is already cream cheese in the middle, so buttercream on top keeps the layers distinct. For a glossy finish that dries hard, use a sugar cookie frosting instead.

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Cutting, Storing and Making Them Ahead

Lift the chilled slab out of the pan by the parchment and cut it on a board. Dip a large knife in hot water, wipe it dry and wipe it again between cuts. Four rows by six gives 24 bars about 2 inches square.

Store the bars in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days, with parchment between layers. Let them sit out for 15 to 20 minutes before serving for a softer bite. For a party, bake and frost them the day before. To freeze, wrap the unfrosted, cooled slab tightly and thaw it in the fridge before frosting; red and green nonpareils on frosted bars tend to bleed as they thaw.

Building a cookie tray? These sit well next to Christmas butter cookies, cranberry bliss bars and Christmas tree brownies. For cut-out cookies on the same day, my 3 ingredient sugar cookies need very little dough work.

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Holiday Cookie Bar Questions

Can I make these without the cream cheese filling?

Yes. Press all the dough into the pan as one layer and start checking at 25 minutes, using the same toothpick test.

Can I make them for other holidays?

Yes, change the gel colors and the sprinkles. In summer I make patriotic sugar cookie bars in red, white and blue.

If you bake a pan this December, tell me in the comments which colors you swirled in.